Garter



,R. W. MERRITT.

- GARTER.

APPUCATION men 1pm; 5,1918.

1,340,455, Patented M y 18,1920.

INVENTOR 1 BY 4% 3 M ATTORNEY ROBERT" W. lvrnnnrr r, on NEW YORK, Y.

GAn'rERi.

r A lication-flied June 5,1918: Seria1"N0.238, 381.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern; p p

Be it known that L'Ronnn'r W. MER I a citizen of the United States, and a 'resi-' dent of New York in the county of New York an'dState of how York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Garters, of which the f following is a full, clear, and exact specification. Y

My invention has for -its objectiprimarily to provide a garter designed to be employed for supporting stockings when worn by a person, and which is of a form to adapt the garter to be worn by women as well as by men, besides being adjustable whereby the garters may be made in given sizes'and then enlarged or reduced so that they may be caused to properly fit the legs of different persons. The invention resides mainly in providing a flexible strip of greater length than the circumference of the leg of a person, and on the ends of the strip are two fastening devices for detachably connecting the strip to a stocking. Slidable on both end parts of the strip is a flexible slotted retainer which is adjustable to form the central part of the strip into a loop for recep-' tion of the leg of the wearer of the garter as well as disposing the ends of the strip in spaced relation for the fasteners to engage separate parts of the stocking.

A further object of the invention is to provide a garter of a simple and efficient construction which may be made of any suitable material.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, the said invention being more fully described hereinafter, and then pointed out in the claim at the end of the description.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a fragmentary view, showing the manner of employing one form of garter embodying my invention for supporting a stocking on the leg of a person.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view showing a front elevation of the end portions of the garter together with the slotted retainer, and

Fig. 3 is a reduced sectional view taken on the line 3- 8 of Fig. 2.

The device or garter has a strip 10 which may be made of elastic or non-elastic webbing or any other flexible material. This strip may be of any desired width, besides being of alength so that-the central portion thereof may be disposed around the leg, as 1.1, of a person having a stocking, as 12, applied to the persons foot as well as being of a length whereby the end parts of the strip will hang downwardly on the leg, as shown in Fig. 1. On the ends'of the flexible strip. 1 0 are provided fasteners, as 13 and: 141, which may be of any desired types, though I preferably employ the well-known forms illustrated'which are removably attached to the garter in the customary fashion.

Slidably arranged on both of the end parts of the flexible strip 10 is a retainer 15. This retainer may be of any suitable shape and size, as well as being made of any desired material, though the retainer is preferably in the form of a circular pad made of felt, canvas or other fibrous or flexible material to adapt it to conform with the shape of the part of the leg which it may contact with. Moreover, by making the pad of felt or cloth of a like class the nap of the material will tend to cause the pad to cling to the leg of the wearer and thereby serve to prevent the garter from accidentally moving. The flexible retainer or pad 15 is of a diameter considerably larger than the extreme widths of both of the end parts of the strip 10 when arranged in crosswise fashion, as shown. The central part of the pad 15 is slitted, as at 16, 17, 18. These slits are relatively disposed in triangular arrangement, besides being spaced from each other, and each slit is slightly longer than the width of the strip 10.

The parts of the garter are assembled by guiding for instance the fastener 13 with the adjoining portion of the end of the strip through the slits 18 and 16 and the fastener Specification of LettrsPate-nt. I Pafien td lfllay'18 1 920; 1"

1 1 with the adjacent portion of the end of the strip is then passed through the slits 17 and 16 so that the end portions of the strip are in crosswise overlapping arrangement centrally on one surface of the pad. The central part of the strip 10 is thereby formed into a loop 19 and the end portions of the parts of the stocking in the manner common to the use of such fasteners as illustrated in Fig. 1, and the stocking will be effectually supported on the wearer. By providing the pad 10 of the type, above described,the loop will be held against all tendency to accidentally move on the leg of the wearer, and in event of the loop of the garter being positioned on the leg above the knee of the wearer this pad will serve to cause the loop to hold tightly to the leg without discomfort to the wearer.

In the foregoing description, I have embodied the preferred form of my invention,

* but I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto, as I am aware that modifications may be made therein without departing from the principle, or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, therefore I reserve to myself the right to make such changes as fairly fall within the t ters Patent The combination, in a garter, of a cloth pad having in its central part triangularly disposed spaced slits, and a flexible strip having both end portions disposed in crosswise arrangement therethrough to provide a loop in the central part of the strip, said pad being adjustable on the strip whereby the loop may be reduced and enlarged in size.

This specification signed and witnessed this fourth day of June, A. D. 1918.

ROBERT WV. MERRITT.

WVitnesses:

GEORGE F. BENTLEY, H. GOTTESMAN. 

